Loving Things in Christ

What did Jesus mean when He said: Whoever does not have, even what he thinks he has will be taken from him (Matt. 13:12)?

Things that are temporal (i.e. non-eternal), by definition, do not last.  If all we have is temporal, we may think we have things, but what we think we have will not last and we will ultimately be left with nothing.  

For example, my body is temporal.  I may think I am able to control it, that it is mine.  But some day, whether gradually or suddenly, it will give out on me and I will be left with nothing.  What I thought I had will be taken from me.  

That is why we must be careful what we love and how we love it.  Love binds us to the beloved.  If we love the wrong things, or more appropriately, if we love things the wrong way, they will be taken from us and we will be begrieved in our separation from them.  

We are to love God, first and foremost, for only He is eternal.  Only in Him can we find lasting love, for He alone is lasting.  In loving God, we may love other things, and to the extent that we love them in God, to the extent that they are connected with God, they will last and our love of them will likewise last.

What does this mean?  Consider again the physical body.  If I love it as an end, as something valuable simply in itself, my love is doomed to frustration.  My beauty will fade, my health will fall, and ultimately death will overtake me.  But if I love my body as a means, if I see it as a temporary vessel that God has gifted me for the building of His Kingdom and the furthering of His Glory, my love will not end in frustration.  On the contrary I will welcome death as a friend, as a doorway into new life and being, as the means casting off what was never meant to last so that I could put on everlasting glory.  My love of my body is not wrong, for my body is made by God and it is good.  Love for what is good is good.  But loving a means as an end is idolatry for it gives to a creature what is rightfully due to the creator alone.  It takes something good, love, and corrupts it, bends it, into something bad—that is, after all, what sin is.  

St. Augustine recognized this.  As a young man he was overwhelmed with the death of a close friend.  Reflecting on it later in life, he recognized that his grief was a just punishment for his sin, for his foolish love.  How can one not suffer, he asked, when they love what is mortal as if it were eternal?

His love for his friend was in itself noble, but since this love was apart from God, it became corrupt and the pain he suffered was evidence of its corruption.  

So too any type of love can go bad.  Love of money is good—it can be a valuable tool to build God’s kingdom.  Money can help us feed the poor, heal the sick, and clothe the naked.  But apart from God, the love of money devolves into consuming greed.  If we live in greed and are parted from our money, we will be devastated.  But if we love our money in Christ, we will not fret when it is taken from us, for we only loved it to the extent that it helped us serve Christ, and Christ remains.  

Likewise, love of God’s creation is good, but apart from God we, like the pagans of old, will worship it as an end in itself instead of seeing it as God’s handiwork, instead of seeing it as a sign that points us towards Him and His glory.  

If we do things in Christ, our deeds will endure like gold and silver (I Cor. 3:12).  Beauty, truth, and justice are eternal and deeds done in furtherance of them will likewise endure.  What we do apart from Christ will not last.  The same is true of our loves.  What we love in Christ will endure and when we are separated from it we will not grieve without hope, for what was good in it will remain in Christ.